PRC, Marriage Law (Revised)

Promulgated: April 28 2001
Effective: as of date of promulgation

Main contents: First promulgated in 1950 and amended for the second time last April, the Law is the fundamental code governing marriage and family relations. The Law, as amended, continues to implement a marriage system that is based on free choice, monogamy and gender equality and particularly protects the lawful rights and interests of women, children and old people (Article 2). Most of the original principles remain unchanged. For example, a marriage must have a civil registration (Article 8); a marriage is invalid, revocable and void ab initio if it involves bigamy, prohibited kinship, a party who is suffering from a disease which is regarded by medical science as rendering that party unfit for marriage or a party who has not reached the legal marriage age, or if it is made under duress (Articles 10 to 12); and the husband and the wife have equal rights and obligations in the family (Articles 13 to 24). Most of the latest amendments are focused on issues of bigamy, divorce, matrimonial property, child support, and domestic violence. The amended Law specifically prohibits extramarital cohabitation and imposes similar consequences as bigamy (Articles 3, 32 and 46). In divorce proceedings, the amended Law gives the court several specific grounds to grant divorce, which include extramarital cohabitation, domestic violence, persistent bad habits such as drug addiction and separation lasting for two years (Article 32). With regard to matrimonial property issues, the amended Law permits pre-nuptial agreements (Article 19). However, even if there is a written agreement between the married couple providing that each of them keeps the property he or she acquired during their marriage, the party who has shouldered more obligations in supporting the family during their marriage may claim compensation from the other party upon divorce (Article 40). Moreover, if a party finds, upon or after divorce, that the other party has unilaterally hidden, transferred, sold or destroyed their matrimonial property, that party may request compensation in division of their matrimonial property or file suit for redivision of their matrimonial property (Article 47). The amended Law gives visitation rights to a divorced parent who has no custody of his or her child (Article 38). In respect of domestic violence, the amended Law provides that the victim has the right to seek local community mediation, policy intervention and even criminal prosecution (Articles 43 to 45).